Bourbonnais

Bourbonnais

Bourbonnais, former province, central France, in the northern part of the Massif Central. It was approximately the same area as today's Allier dept. It is a largely arid plateau (except for the fertile Limagne area in the west). The chief cities are Moulins, Montluçon, and Vichy. Moulins, the ancient capital, has many historical monuments. The counts (later dukes) of Bourbon held the Bourbonnais as an appanage until 1527, when Francis I of France confiscated it upon the death of the constable Charles of Bourbon.

Historical region, central France. In Roman times it was part of Celtic Gaul under Julius Caesar and later part of Aquitania under Augustus. It gradually began a separate existence in the 10th century under a lord of Bourbon. It eventually passed to Louis, created duke de Bourbon in 1327, the ancestor of the Bourbon dynasty. Bourbonnais became part of the royal domain in 1527.

Geography

History

The village is named after Francois Bourbonnais, Sr., a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the American Fur Company, who arrived in the area in 1830. It was known as Bourbonnais Grove until 1876, when it became the Village of Bourbonnais.

Pronunciation

The original French pronunciation of Bourbonnais came to be Anglicized over time to burr-BOE-nus. In 1974 a state representative from Bourbonnais introduced a resolution "correcting" the pronunciation of the town's name to /bɝbəˈneɪ/ burr-buh-NAY, closer to the French.

There were 5,341 households out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.1% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.5% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the village the population was spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 15.5% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $49,329, and the median income for a family was $57,086. Males had a median income of $42,216 versus $26,796 for females. The per capita income for the village was $22,476. About 5.2% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Bourbonnais shares a high school with Bradley, IL, called Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School. The village is also home to Olivet Nazarene University, the host of the annual summer training camp of the Chicago Bears. Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School is also known as B.B.C.H.S.

Shopping

There have been some recent store openings in Bourbonnais, including a Jewel-Osco, Kroger, Wal-Mart, and an Office Depot.
Bourbonnais Crossing, a mixed-use development will offer up to of retail, restaurants, residential and hotel space was announced on May 21st, 2007 and is scheduled to be open mid-2009.